Rumors and Battles
by Dragon Star Empress
Summary: When rumors start circulating that there are sentient robots in Japan Ratchet, Jazz, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Shift are sent to Tokyo to investigate.


This is a story I wrote for an art trade with Ridel on Deviantart, a crossover between Transformers and Brave Police J-Decker with her OC Shift.

Thanks to Supergeek17 for beta reading this for me.

"We need to go left," Sunstreaker said.

"No, it's a right," Sideswipe corrected.

"No, it's left-- you're just reading the map wrong," Sunstreaker agued.

"You're _both_ wrong-- we go straight a couple more blocks and then right," Jazz cut in.

"All three of you are wrong-- we missed the turn and we need to backtrack four blocks and make a right," Ratchet told them none too tactfully.

"Why don't we just ask for directions instead of driving around in circles lost all day?" Shift asked.

"We're not lost," Sunstreaker and Sideswipe replied in unison.

"We're doing just fine-- we don't need directions," Jazz added.

"Yeah-- we'd be there by now if any of you glitches would just _listen_ to me," Ratchet announced.

"Carly was right-- doesn't mater if they're human or Transformer, all men are stubborn and stupid when it comes to asking for directions," Shift grumbled before pulling ahead of the others and pulling up next to a police car that was stopped at a traffic light.

"Excuse me? Could you please tell me how to get to the Brave Police station?" she asked the rather young looking man in the drivers' seat.

"Sure, we're heading back there now," he replied. "You can follow us, if you'd like."

"That would be great, thank you," Shift replied with a warm smile as the cruiser pulled through the green light, ordering the others over their comlinks to follow her.

-----------

When they got to the station, everyone's holoforms got out (or in Shift's case, dismounted) of their "vehicles." "Aren't you a little young to be a police officer?" Ratchet asked when the boy got out of the police cruiser.

"Yeah, I'm only twelve, but there were special circumstances and I was allowed to join the force," he explained. "I'm Yuuta Tomonaga."

Suddenly, a huge purple robot seemed to appear almost out of nowhere and stood staring at them for a moment then turned its attention to their vehicle forms. "Why is he staring at us like that?" Shift asked, taking a step back so she was standing slightly behind Jazz.

"I don't know, but I doubt it's dangerous-- it's probably one of the police bots," Jazz replied confidently.

"Probably just never seen such a good looking car before," Sunstreaker cut in.

"What are you?" the purple robot demanded suddenly.

"What do you mean, Shadow Maru?" Yuuta asked, looking up.

"These 'people' aren't real and those vehicles are no more vehicles than Dekkado is," the purple robot, Shadow Maru, answered hardly.

As soon as the words left Shadow Maru's mouth, the police car transformed into a blue and white robot who stood protectively between Yuuta and the others. "What do you want here? What are you?" he asked.

"Well, apparently trying to hide our identities is useless," Sunstreaker sighed before his holoform disappeared and he transformed, the action shortly repeated by Sideswipe.

"Well, he does have a point, and it would be easier to complete our mission if we can talk face to face," Jazz agreed before the rest of them turned off their holoforms and transformed. "Don't worry-- we're not here to cause any trouble; we just heard some rumors and we wanted to find out if they were true. I'm Jazz, and this is Ratchet, Shift, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe."

"I'm Dekkado, this is Shadow Maru and you've already met Yuuta," Dekkado replied. "What are these rumors you're talking about?"

"That you're not just normal, human-made robots-- that you're actually sentient," Jazz explained.

"Why don't we go inside to talk?" Dekkado replied, gesturing to the main doors of the office.

"That would be fine," Jazz replied as they all followed him inside and into a large, robot-sized office where they were introduced to the other members of the Brave Police force.

"So, now that we've met you all… I'm guessing those rumors are true, aren't they?" Sideswipe asked.

"Yes, but we try not to let anyone know that," Dekkado replied.

"Why not?" Ratchet asked.

"If humans found out, most of them probably wouldn't react too well," Dekkado explained. "There are some who know about us who have made it quite clear they think that there should be no more attempts to make any others like us-- they believe humans have no right to create sentient artificial life. One person said we shouldn't exist and should all be destroyed. After that, it was decided it would be better to just let people think we're regular highly advance robots."

"They knew you were sentient and they still wanted to destroy you?" Shift asked, horrified by the thought.

"Yes," Dekkado confirmed. "It's just the way some humans are-- they fear and sometimes hate and want to destroy what they don't understand."

"But the humans have never acted like that with us-- yeah, they were afraid at first but most of them got used to us," Sunstreaker protested.

"You're from a different planet-- they probably assume it's normal for robots to be sentient where you come from; for a human-made robot to be sentient is viewed as being wrong by most humans," Dumpson explained.

"I can't imagine having to live like that… hiding that you're sentient from the humans you help and work with," Shift murmured.

"It's not bad-- we don't have to try to hide it too much," Drill Boy reassured her. "Everyone's been told we have super advanced AI systems that make us seem almost human so we can interact with people like we normally would and they just think we're programmed to act like that."

"Do you have a medic?" Ratchet asked, changing the subject.

"We have Syunsuke-- he helped build us and repairs us if we're injured," Gun Max explained.

"Would it be possible for me to talk to him?" Ratchet asked.

"Of course, he should be in th--" Dekkado was cut off as the phone rang and he answered it. A few moments later, he hung up quickly. "We have to go-- there's a man with a robot heading for downtown and destroying everything in his path."

"Hey, why don't we come along and help? We're great in a fight," Sideswipe offered eagerly.

"This is no situation for a couple of wannabe heroes to be messing with," Dumpson told him tartly.

"Hey! We were fighting Decepticons long before humans even existed to dream you up!" Sunstreaker snapped.

"Fine: you can come, but don't get involved unless I ask you to," Dekkado told them, cutting off Dumpson's retort.

"Yes, sir," Sunstreaker and Sideswipe replied in unison as everyone left.

--

When they arrived in the heart of downtown Tokyo, they saw a huge robot towering over, and destroying, the buildings.

"You guys sure you want to try facing that thing?" Shift yelled over the chaotic din. "It's fragging bigger than Devastator."

"We can take it," Sunstreaker replied confidently.

"Yeah, sure—of course we can," Sideswipe chimed in, though not as confidently.

"Don't wimp out on me, Bro," Sunstreaker chastised. "If those cop-bots can handle something that big, we'd have no problem with it. They're no bigger or stronger than we are."

"You mean they _weren't_ any bigger or stronger than you," Shift observed, pointing over the golden Lamborghini's shoulder. Sunstreaker, and in fact the entire group, turned in time to see Dekkado and Duke each combining with large support vehicles, Gun Max with his motorcycle and McCrane, Dumpson, Power Joe and Drill Boy with each other, all of them forming four massive robots.

"Okay, fine—I give up," Sideswipe announced, throwing his hands in the air. "_Now_ I'm impressed."

The group stood pressed against a so-far undestroyed wall and watched the Brave Police attack the robot. As they atacked, pieces of metal on the thing's shoulders slid back to release dozens of smaller robots, slightly bigger than an average sized human. The small platoon of robots lifted their arms, their hands turning into firearms ranging in size from small pistols to M16s, and starting peppering the force with laser fire.

Suddenly, Shadow Maru landed near the group and leaned in to address them. "Dekkado says you can help deal with the small ones," he informed them, "but stay away from the big one—let us handle it." The ninja-bot jumped into the air, almost out of sight, and threw a handful of shuriken at a couple of the robots that had followed him, turning them into a chain reaction of small explosions.

"_Alright!_ Finally, we get in on the action!" Sideswipe whooped, running over to where some power lines had been knocked down. Pulling a few of the sparking lines loose, he raced onto a low-slung bridge and used it to lasso a couple of the smaller bots, jumping off the bridge as he did so that he landed with a foot on each of their backs and sparks shooting from their bodies.

"Hey, wait for me!" Sunstreaker called as he ran after his brother, grabbed his own lines and performed the same maneuver. Satisfied with the twitching the defeated robots produced, he pulled out a long, sleek rifle and started to shoot the other robots down with more than a little prejudice.

Jazz quickly followed the rambunctious twins, staying grounded as he shot down any robots that came within his (wide) range of fire.

"Hey, what about _me_?" Shift called after them, starting to take a small step forward.

Ratchet's hand clamped down on her shoulder and pulled her back to her position next to him. "Stay here," he commanded. "I'll have to pound dents out of those three glitches anyway—I don't need you giving me any more work to do."

"Great… everyone else runs off and I get stuck with The Hatchet," Shift muttered, crossing her arms and pouting.

Shift watched the battle and explosions for a few more minutes before throwing her hands up in the air. "This is _booooooooring_," she whined before turning to Ratchet. "I'm going to wait for the rest of you back at the station."

"You'll stay here," Ratchet told her gruffly.

"Make me, why don'tcha?" Shift replied flippantly, giving him the official brush off and walking away. She was just about to transform when she heard the medic scream her name, followed by, "Look out!"

Shift turned just in time to see one of the robots fire two massive guided missiles at her. She felt herself freeze for a moment; before she could react, Ratchet slammed into her in a football tackle.

Shift landed hard several feet away as the missiles hit and the entire area was shrouded in a cloud of smoke and dirt. Shift lifted her head and scanned the area for Ratchet's energy signature. She found it a few moments later, and crawled through the smoke and haze and confusion to the position of the signal. When she finally saw Ratchet, lying face up on the pavement, she had to fight back a gag.

The damage he'd taken was very extensive, and mostly on his left side—a hole the size of Shift's forearm and about wrist deep had been gashed in his side from the shrapnel, and the only thing keeping his lower arm attached to the rest of his body were a few cables and lines of energon; many of both had been severed or badly frayed. "Autobot down!" she called over her comlink. "I need someone down here _now_, if not sooner!"

"Sorry Shift—kinda busy right now," Sunstreaker replied minimally over the din of weapon fire.

"He's right," Jazz added. "If we turn our backs on these things for even a second, we're going to get blasted to pieces."

"We'll get to you as soon as we get a break in the—oh, like _the Pit_ you will—!" Sideswipe offered, cutting himself off to deal with whatever the robots were throwing at him.

"_Greeeeeeeat,_" Shift groaned. "What am I supposed to do now?"

"Calm down, quit your whinin' and get over here," Ratchet suggested.

"Sure, 'calm down'—you're just ripped open and leaking vital fluids all over the place," Shift mumbled as she edged closer to Ratchet and his injuries. "Why wouldn't I be calm?"

One of the severed cables snapped loudly, and Shift jumped back. "Wh-what am I supposed to do?" she asked. "I'm not a medibot!" Shift gasped as one of the robots headed towards them, its weapon beginning to glow as it prepared to fire on them.

Suddenly, a shuriken sliced into its head, and the robot dropped in its position. Shadow Maru landed between Shift, Ratchet and the encroaching hoard of enemy robots. "Can you get him out of here?" Shadow Maru asked over his shoulder.

"Does it look like skinny little me can haul his big, injured chassis outta here?" Shift replied, quirking an eyeridge.

Shadow Maru quirked an eyeridge in return. "Well, excuse me," he quipped.

"The way the energon lines have been severed," Ratchet rasped, "I would bleed to death if you try moving me without a field patch first."

"I'll try to get one of the others to your position as soon as possible," Shadow Maru offered, "or I will, if these robots ever stop coming. However, I'm afraid none of us know anything about repairing you Autobots. Can you be stabilized enough to be moved?"

"Don't worry about the repairs," Ratchet dismissed with a wave of his working right hand. "Shift will handle that."

"What?! You want me to make repairs?" Shift asked incredulously.

"Just do what I tell you to and you'll do fine," Ratchet reassured her.

"But—" Shift started to protest.

"You've got to at least try," Shadow Maru cut in, felling another robot. "You're the only one who can do it and I don't know how long I can hold these things off."

"Al… alright," Shift hesitantly agreed.

"Good—now take this," Ratchet began, subspacing a roll of Cybertronian medical tape and passing it off to her, "and use it to patch the tears in my energon lines."

"What about the lines that have been completely severed?" Shift asked as she got to work patching the many frays and tears.

"You'll have to tie them off," Ratchet instructed.

"Tie them off?" Shift repeated, looking up from her work.

"Tie a knot in the torn end," Ratchet explained. "Otherwise, I'll bleed myself into stasis before it can be properly repaired."

"Would you like me to go find some cyber-leeches and bleed you while I'm at it?" Shift asked with more than a slight note of shock.

"Just do it, Shift," Ratchet growled.

Shift started to hesitantly tie off the energon line, freezing when Ratchet grimaced in pain. "Sorry—"

"Don't be—you do what you have to do to keep your patient alive," Ratchet reassured her, "even if it means causing them some pain. You're doing fine."

Smiling thinly, Shift continued to, with the medibot's guidance, patch and repair Ratchet's injuries, finally getting him into a relatively stable condition. Just then, there was a deafening crash as the large robot fell to the ground, finally defeated.

A few minutes later, after the post-battle chaos had died down, J-Decker landed next to Shift and Ratchet. "Are you stable enough to be moved?" he asked Ratchet.

"Thanks to Shift, yes," Ratchet replied.

"I'll take you back to the station while the others finish off the last of the other robots," J-Decker offered. "Hopefully Syunsuke-san will be able to help you and your men with any other repairs that need to be made."

---  
_Several hours later…_

"Oww, oww, _oowwwwwwwww_," Sideswipe whined. "That hurts—somebody make him stop."

"Oh, quit being such a wimp," Shift admonished as she handed Ratchet another tool.

"Why are you even helping?" Sideswipe asked.

"Because I can't fully use my arm yet and need the help—she makes a good medibot," Ratchet told him with a sigh.

"Wait—did The Hatchet just _compliment_ someone?" Sunstreaker cut in from his exam table a few feet away. "How much of that damage was to his head?"

"It must have been pretty bad," Sideswipe deadpanned, "but he still looks better than you do—frag, have you looked in a mirror recently?"

"No," Sunstreaker replied, glaring hardly at his brother.

"Good—don't, 'cause you'd probably break the mirror if you did," Sideswipe laughed. "You look like you just got back from a demolition derby." He then proceeded to point out every scratch and dent on Sunstreaker's chassis.

"Frag off," Sunstreaker growled.

"But there's _so much damage_," Sideswipe intoned, "especially that big ol' mess on your head. Oh, wait… Never mind. That's just your face." Sideswipe jumped off the table and ran like the Pit as Sunstreaker lunged at him and chased him around the room until he managed to tackle him to the ground.

Shift looked to Ratchet as if to ask for guidance to stop the fight in progress. "Now remember, Shift," Ratchet coached, "a good medibot only causes their patients pain if it's for their own good. In this case, if they keep fighting like that it'll undo all the repairs we've just made." Ratchet handed her a heavy steel wrench. "Now pull your arm back so you get plenty of momentum behind the throw, aim carefully for the back of their head and if you do it just so, they should stop fighting."

"Right," Shift replied, working on her aim.

"Now on the count of three, aim for Sideswipe," Ratchet instructed, getting his own throwing arm ready. "One… two… three." They both threw their wrenches at the same time, and both wrenches made contact with the back of their targets' heads with a satisfying _claaaaaaang_.

The twins both stopped their fighting and, rubbing the backs of their heads, turned to glare at Shift and Ratchet. The duo's only reply was to high five each other on the perfect synchronized wrench throw.

"Hey, are you guys all done with making repairs?" Drill Boy asked as he poked his head in the repair bay.

"I believe so, yes," Ratchet replied, picking up his wrenches.

"Cool!" Drill Boy cheered before turning to Shift. "Would you like to go for a tour of the city? I can show you some of the coolest stuff in Tok—"

"I need to do a quick scan on her to make sure she wasn't damaged in the explosion before she goes anywhere," Ratchet cut in, thumping a free berth.

"I'd love to go—right now," Shift replied quickly, looking hopefully at Drill Boy. The young orange mech smiled and quickly transformed into his drill tank mode, popping the door and letting Shift climb in. "Better luck next time, Docbot."

"Ha! _Now who's the wimp?!" Sideswipe called after Shift and Drill Boy._


End file.
